US Nuclear Posture Review 2010-Blueprint for Nuclear War?

[conspiracy analyst]

The document in full...

http://www.defense.gov/npr/docs/2010%20Nuclear%20Posture%20Review%20Re port.pdf

US Nuclear Posture Review an 'historic shift', say German politicans

Nuclear missile in the sky
Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Nuclear restrictions have been welcomed in Germany
Berlin has praised the US administration for its more restrictive policy on the use of nuclear weapons. But legislators were disappointed the new policy did not allow for the removal of warheads from German soil.


The German government on Wednesday welcomed Washington’s Nuclear Posture Review as a decisive move toward reducing the likelihood of a nuclear conflict. German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said the policy was also a major step toward effective arms control.

"It's an important decision for the United States to say it won't develop any new nuclear warheads and carry out nuclear tests," Westerwelle said. "There's a good chance that the next ten years will become a decade of genuine disarmament."

Conditional restraint

Westerwelle reading coalition treatyBildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Foreign Minister Westerwelle sees nuclear disarmament as part of the coalition treaty

German legislators were relieved the Nuclear Posture Review ushered in a much more restrictive US policy on the use of atomic weapons. The policy states that the US would never launch a nuclear attack against non-nuclear states that adhere to the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

A foreign policy spokesman for Germany's opposition Social Democrats, Rolf Muetzenich, called the shift in US nuclear policy remarkable, although added that it didn't meet all his expectations.

"I had wished to hear a general renunciation of use of nuclear weapons and a clearer shift away from the principle of nuclear deterrence as such," Muetzenich said. "After all, there are enough frightening conventional weapons around to deter enemies."

2010 Easter March participants in StuttgartBildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: The banning of nuclear arms has been a central demand of the German peace movement

The Nuclear Posture Review does state that exceptions could be made for Iran and North Korea, both of which are suspected of trying to acquire or build a nuclear bomb.

The Foreign Ministry in Berlin called on Iran to comply with the appeal by the international community to give up its nuclear program. It said the US Nuclear Posture Review, plus the planned signing of a new arms reduction agreement between the USA and Russia, should provide Tehran with ample proof of a genuine desire to move toward disarmament.


Warheads in Europe not affected

The German government agreed to work toward the removal of the remaining 10 to 20 US nuclear warheads on German soil. However, their immediate withdrawal is not part of Washington's new strategy. US president Barack Obama said the issue of tactical warheads in Europe had to be dealt with in separate negotiations.

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,5439660,00.html

[Disco_Destroyer]

Iran calls for new nuclear body

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/04/20104176294381042 3.html
Iran says its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes and not to develop a nuclear weapon [AFP]

Iran's president has called for the formation of a new international body to oversee nuclear disarmament as the country opened a two-day summit on civilian nuclear energy in the capital, Tehran.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made the call on Saturday at a summit seen as a counterpoint to a major conference in Washington earlier this week, in which Barack Obama, the US president, outlined his nuclear strategy.

Ahmadinejad said his proposed organisation would provide a balance to the UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

"An independent international group which plans and oversees nuclear disarmament and prevents proliferation should be set up," he said.

"This group should act in a way where all independent countries and governments could have a say and role in running the affairs of that group.

"Until now the presence and political domination of the agency has prevented them from carrying out their duties and has diverted the agency from performing its legal obligations."

'Western bias'

As such, Ahmadinejad said the US should not be allowed to be on the IAEA's board of governors.

"[Those who] possess, have used or threatened to use nuclear weapons [should] be suspended from the IAEA and its board of governors, especially the US which has used a weapon made of atomic waste in the Iraq war," he said.

Mohammad Marandi, the head of the North American Studies department at the University of Tehran, said Ahmadinejad's speech was targeting a global audience.

"Most countries in the world do feel that the UN Security Council as well as the IAEA board of governors is not democratic, so it is something that most people in the south have a great deal of sympathy with," he told Al Jazeera.

"The problem that Iran is facing right now is the fact that western countries are very much biased against the country.

"So he is using this opportunity to point out Iran's position and show that it is a very reasonable and logical one and the reason that Iran is unable to get its voice across is because these bodies are undemocratic."

US summit criticised

Twenty-four foreign and deputy foreign ministers were expected to attend the summit, dubbed "Nuclear Energy for All, Nuclear Weapons for No One", state media reported.


Manouchehr Mottaki, Iran's foreign minister, talks to Al Jazeera about the Tehran summit


The names of the countries represented were not given in the report, but European and other Western officials were not thought likely to attend.

Speaking to Al Jazeera in advance of the meeting, Manouchehr Mottaki, Iran's foreign minister, said that the Iranian government was stressing the peaceful use of nuclear energy.

"Last week, we celebrated successful steps in nuclear activities for Iran, and in that meeting with Ahmadinejad [the president], we stressed that nuclear energy must be for everybody," he said.

"While Washington discussed the protection of nuclear material, in this coming conference we will emphasise the necessity of disarmament."

Iran criticised the 47-nation nuclear security summit hosted in Washington earlier this week by Obama on the grounds that the US holds one of the world's largest stocks of nuclear weapons.

Officials from Iran were not invited but Mottaki told Al Jazeera that he would have considered attending if invited.

Tehran says that it is entitled to continue work on its controversial uranium enrichment programme while a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and strongly denies it wants nuclear weapons.